STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, said New York’s education reform amounts to much more than teacher evaluations — though she promised teachers and other education leaders gathered at Lavelle Preparatory Charter School yesterday that the board would get those right, too.

“I don’t want anyone here to think that anyone on the state Board of Regents has anything but the highest respect and regard for the work that is done in classrooms across the state every single day,” Dr. Tisch said.

She spoke to educators yesterday at the “Futures of Education” luncheon at the Bloomfield school. The lunch was sponsored by the Lois and Richard Nicotra Foundation.

Christine Cea, the first Regent to represent only Staten Island, said she was thrilled to have the chancellor at an Island school — and was happy to be able to bring Staten Island’s perspective to the board.

“I think we’re very unique,” she said. “I think as an Island we’re very unique as a borough. We do very, very well.”

K-through-12 education in the state, and grant charters for colleges, universities and cultural institutions.

Teacher evaluations, though they dominate news coverage, are just one part of New York’s reform efforts under the federal “Race to the Top” competitive grant process, Dr. Tisch said. The state’s lack of a teacher evaluation system on which school systems and unions could agree jeopardized the $700 million the state is due to receive through the program.

But late Wednesday night, the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to an agreement on a teacher and principal evaluation system framework to be signed into law. Individual school systems and teachers’ unions, however, including New York City and the United Federation of Teachers, will still have to work out the details by a January deadline or risk losing state funding.

“Christine [Cea] and I vow to you that the system we are putting in place, the system that was agreed to by the Legislature last night, is [the] starting point,” Dr. Tisch said. “We know that good public policy has to have the ability to adjust and adapt itself as truth becomes revealed to you.”

The statewide system calls for a 100-point scale to grade teachers. Of those, 40 points will come from student scores on assessments, a mix of state and local tests to be decided by each school system. Sixty percent of the evaluations will be based on classroom observations by principals, peers or independent evaluators, student and parent feedback, and student portfolios.

But Dr. Tisch pointed out that Race to the Top also requires states to raise the standards for their students so that when they complete high school, they have the choice of going on to college or starting a career.

“I believe we owe that to our citizens,” Dr. Tisch said.

To accomplish that, Dr. Tisch said, the state has aligned itself with the Common Core Standards, a curriculum being adopted across the country. Another aspect of the reform, she said, is fixing state exams.

“If students are going to be held accountable for how they do on exams, and if teachers are going to be held accountable for how their students do, then I think New York state owes them the best tests possible,” Dr. Tisch said.

As part of that effort, New York set up a fellowship to bring people in to work on the testing issue, Dr. Tisch said, and is now at the head of the table when it comes to developing exams for use across the country as part of the Common Core.

“It is better to be leading than to follow someone you disagree with in a public forum,” Dr. Tisch said.

Dr. Tisch also addressed her own past as the child of immigrants, and said education was a “tool out of the ghetto” that her parents worked hard to provide her. Though she did not mention the legislation, Regents have pushed for the adoption of a state DREAM Act, which would allow for college or the military to serve as a path to citizenship for young people who immigrated her illegally

“America is great because it opened its arms to immigrant families such as myself, gave them education opportunities and created a pathway to success,” she said.

Dr. Tisch took questions, including one on her opinion of where charter schools fit in education’s future. She said she was an early supporter of the schools, and still supports them. But many people focus on their accomplishments while overlooking the good happening in district public schools, she said. The two types of schools should work together.

“If we don’t get this part right, don’t merge and collaborate, I think charter schools will have a very awkward adolescence in New York state,” she said.

Ken Byalin, president of the Lavelle Charter School, said he thought the 200-plus for whose education his school is responsible were a lot. And “she’s got millions of students in New York state,” he said.

He said he hopes charter schools can play a substantial part in the future of education.

“Part of why I’m interested in the future is I don’t really know what the future is,” he said. “Charters are clearly part of the process of finding new ways of doing things.”

Also on hand at yesterday’s event were leaders of the borough’s three colleges and universities: Wagner College President Dr. Richard Guarasci; College of Staten Island President Dr. Tomas Morales, and St. John’s University Vice President Dr. Jerrold Ross.

Dr. Guarasci told the attendees that Lavelle’s students have been a gift to Wagner, which partners with the charter school, in helping to teach undergraduate and graduate students who work with them “what it means to be an engaged professional.”